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I recently read - back-to-back - two historical mysteries set in England. The first, THE INVENTION OF FIRE, (reviewed last issue) was set in the time of Chaucer. The second, THE TAPESTRY (reviewed here) was set in the time of Henry VIII. Though designed to appeal to the same audience, these are very different books, but because I read them back-to-back, I inevitably began to draw comparisons. If you're looking for a book that will transport you to another era through sensory details and exhaustive research, choose THE INVENTION OF FIRE. If you're looking for a quick read, THE TAPESTRY is more what you might have in mind. If you're looking for deeply imagined - though real-life - characters, again, it's THE INVENTION OF FIRE. If you're looking for . . . well, a quicker read . . . it's THE TAPESTRY.
THE TAPESTRY suffers from a number of issues right from the outset. First of all, if you haven't read the first two books in the trilogy, you start out two-thirds behind and spend the entire novel wondering about major events that continue to be alluded to though not explained and that impact the current events. (THE INVENTION OF FIRE is also a continuation of characters, but it's perfectly enjoyable as a stand-alone novel.) Second, even those with only a rudimentary knowledge of English history know about Henry VIII and his wives and quite possibly even know the little rhyme that makes it easy to figure out what happens to wife number five. If not, Google quickly brings you up to speed, so there's no mystery whatsoever about what's going to happen between and to Catherine Howard and Henry VIII, regardless of our narrator's machinations. But beyond those two issues, what THE TAPESTRY suffers from the most is a lack of depth - possibly because the author is relying on character development building from the two earlier novels or possibly because she just wants to keep the pace moving.
And the pace does move, but not because we feel we're entrenched in the action. In spite of the fact that this is a first-person narrative, we're kept at a distance through too much telling and not enough showing. We're constantly told that the narrator feels that she's in terrible danger, but even when rather unsavory events happen to her, there's no real sense of felt danger. We're told to feel things rather than made to feel them, and we spend a lot of time in the narrator's head as she thinks things through. None of that leads to any real involvement with any of the characters, so we remain rather distant from the action and emotions, no matter how harrowing we're told they may be.
On a more positive note, there is a lot of action. Joanna Stafford, once planning to be a nun but now, with the dissolution of the monasteries, earning a living - and the king's favor - by weaving tapestries, is summoned to Henry VIII's court. Against her better judgment, she goes and immediately finds her life threatened and secrets, plots, and evil all around. Plus, she's quickly caught up in trying to save her friend Catherine Howard from becoming the king's mistress. Joanna leads us through various rooms of Whitehall Palace, to a variety of banquets, dinners, and social gatherings of the court, and among dozens of courtiers, real and imagined. Eventually, she even takes us to Brussels and Germany and to encounters with black magic and Emperor Charles V. Joanna is constantly under threat from unknown sources and is constantly in motion, and that does encourage you to keep the pages turning. Throughout the novel, though, Joanna is in rich historical territory that could have been used more fully. As noted earlier, it's also fairly well-known territory, so perhaps Bilyeau feared retelling too much of what's already been told countless times over, but having set her novel in this period, Bilyeau would have done better to have made fuller use of the resources it offers. From hints given about the two earlier novels, it seems that they, perhaps, do serve up more of the history and intrigue that this book merely promises, then skims over.
In the end, Joanna is forced to come to terms with her past - the dangers, her actions, and the people she has known and loved - in order to move forward into her future. Lots of loose ends are tied up in a fairly satisfying manner, although many of the resolutions - at the end and throughout the novel - rely heavily on coincidences and events that are just too convenient to be believable. Overall, the pace is quick, there's lots of intrigue, and if you've read the first two books in the trilogy, you'll want to read this one. If you haven't read the first two books, you may be left wanting more from the one you have.
§ Meredith Frazier, a writer with a background in English literature, lives in Dallas, Texas
Reviewed by Meredith Frazier, May 2015
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